1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera, and more specifically, to a camera having a drive means for moving a strobe light emitter to a light emission possible position where the strobe light emitter projects from a camera main body and an accommodating position where it is accommodated in the camera main body.
2. Related background Art
Recently, in photographing equipment and the like such as cameras and so on (hereinafter, referred to as cameras) for taking photographs, there has been an increasing request for reducing the size and weight of the cameras as well as the design of the exterior member and the like of the cameras and the specification and the like of the various functions of the cameras -are frequently changed.
Further, materials such as plastic and the like have been widely used in place of, for example, metal materials which have been widely used as a material for constituting a camera main body.
Thus, there has been proposed and become commercially practical various types of technical means. According to the technical means, various members constituting a camera main body are arranged as units corresponding to the functions of the members and a plurality of the units are assembled to each other so that the camera main body can be effectively formed as well as the strength of the camera main body can be more improved.
For example, in the camera disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-160516, a camera main body is composed of a plurality of units such as a first block for forming a Patrone chamber, a second block for forming a spool chamber, a support unit for supporting a photographing lens barrel disposed on a front surface side between the first block and the second block, and the like. According to the arrangement, when stress is imposed on the camera, not only strength capable of maintaining the flatness of a film can be secured but also the design, specification and the like of the camera can be changed only by the modification of the design of some of the plurality of units.
On the other hand, small cameras with more improved portability have recently become pervasive in cameras which execute photographing and the like using a rolled light sensitive material. In these small cameras, cameras having a flash gun (hereinafter, referred to as a strobe unit) built therein for emitting flash as auxiliary illuminating light in photographing have become commercially practical.
In the cameras having the built-in strobe unit, there have been proposed and become commercially practical various types of cameras having a drive means for driving the flash light emitter (hereinafter, referred to as a strobe light emitter) of the strobe unit. The drive means is arranged such that when, for example, photographing is carried out, it moves the strobe light emitter to a light emission possible position where it is projected from a camera main body and when the camera is stored or carried, the drive unit moves the strobe light emitter to an accommodating position where it is accommodated in the camera main body.
For example, the moving device for moving a strobe light emitter disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-286242 is arranged such that a projection disposed on the outer peripheral surface of a lens unit as a lens frame of a photographing optical system is abutted against the cam surface of a drive lever and the drive lever is rotated by being pressed by the projection to thereby project the strobe light emitter from a camera main body through an urging member.
However, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-160516 discloses nothing as to the strobe light emitter built in a camera, a drive means for driving the strobe light emitter, and the like and any consideration is not given to them. Therefore, the technical means disclosed in the publication cannot solve the problems which arise to the design of a camera main body when, for example, the specification of the strobe light emitter is changed.
On the other hand, the means disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-286242 lacks general versatility because when the shape of the lens unit is to be changed or when the drive mechanism is to be changed, the design of the strobe unit itself must be modified and further it is very difficult to use the strobe unit to other type of a camera. Therefore, there is a problem that a partial change of the design of a camera requires to redesign the camera entirely and a manufacturing cost is increased thereby.